This invention relates to sawhorses and more particularly to folding sawhorses which are foldable in nature. Sawhorses are commonly employed by carpenters, painters, drywall installers, other workers and occasionally a homeowner; for a wide variety of reasons.
The traditional sawhorse is a rigid thing which is sturdy and well-adapted for work supporting operations. One of the limitations of traditional sawhorses is that they are ungraceful to store and transport because of their shape and the amount of room required. A folding sawhorse should readily unfold for use and fold up again for storage.
Homeowners often have work around the home where a sawhorse would make their project much easier and in some cases even safer, however, again the storage problems of conventional or fixed sawhorses discourage the homeowner from sawhorse ownership. Since most projects of the homeowner are of a short interval, if the sawhorse does not easily expand, and collapse, it will be seldom used.
The present invention is a strong, full sized sawhorse; that you can just pick up with one hand and hang on your garage wall; with the maximum projection from that wall being 11/2 inches. This sawhorse is sturdy in it's stable work position, and yet instantaneously foldable to an insignificant volume for storage, and without complexity of operation.
Prior art sawhorses either are too cumbersome to transport if sturdy, or are unsturdy and time consuming if partially collapsible. In response to this disadvantage of fixed sawhorses, there have been proposals for knock-down sawhorses which may be disassembled for transportation and storage as exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 2,829,927 April, 1958 and U.S. Pat No. 4,071,113 January, 1978.
Similarly, collapsible sawhorses have evolved in which the supporting legs may be swiveled from the diverging load supporting position to a generally parallel storage position as exemplified in U.S. Pat. No. 3,734,235 May, 1973, U.S. Pat No. 249,095 November, 1881 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,696,887 October, 1972.
Folding sawhorses therefore were created to solve the storage space problem and to allow for easier transportation.
Prior folding sawhorses had many shortcomings. Some prior folding sawhorses could not withstand sideways motion in the load they supported. This was especially a problem with the type of sawhorse described U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,658 Banfield Dec. 5, 1989. The legs of this type of folding sawhorse that were positioned on a common side of the sawhorse were not rigid with each other. The legs tended to swivel with relation to the upper central member of the sawhorse when the sawhorse was under load and therefore the sawhorse did not provide sufficient support when its load moved laterally with respect to the central supporting member.
Other folding sawhorses, such as the sawhorse described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,411 December, 1988, provided significantly less vertical support than did non-folding sawhorses. The legs of these sawhorses tended to curve outward under the pressure of applied weight because the sawhorse's opposing legs were not rigidly fixed to one another when the sawhorse was unfolded for use.
Some folding sawhorses, such as the "IRON HORSE" manufactured by the Hirsh Company of Skogie, Ill. are both rigid and sturdy because their four legs are fixed relative to one another, but are difficult to unfold and fold.
The plastic sawhorses as in; U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,785 DuRapau Oct. 4, 1994. States in part "To provide rigidity and strength and to also minimize weight and material usage the sawhorse components are preferably constructed of reinforced plastic resin molded into the desired form." This statement may be valid from a manufacturer point of view, however, the plastic sawhorses are not comparable to wood where strength is concerned. Furthermore the use of plastic; does of course blockade any of our citizens from building their own.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,429,765 Garcia Feb. 7, 1984 Collapsible sawhorse; was believed to be the closest prior art, to the present invention found, however, his statement "To illustrate the space savings afforded . . . . About one fifth of the storage volume required of the conventional sawhorse." while showing promise, is not comparable to the present invention.
When the full sized sawhorse of this invention is fully assembled; the rectilinear volume of this folding sawhorse; in it's stable work position, is 23040 cubic inches being 32 inches long, 24 inches wide at the base and 30 inches high. The rectilinear volume of this folding full sized sawhorse; in it's folded and ready for storage position, is 1536 cubic inches being 32 inches long, 11/2 inches wide at the base and 32 inches high. The reduction ratio between the stable work position and the folded for storage position therefore is fifteen (15) to one (1), over a fixed conventional sawhorse of the same proportions in it's stable work position.
The goal of this invention is to provide an improved folding full size sawhorse having a substantial load carrying capacity, while still maintaining; a light weight for handling, and with an instant transformation, between; the ready for storage position and the stable work position. Other objects and advantages of this invention will become more fully apparent as this description proceeds, with reference being made to the accompanying drawing and appended claims.